Tag: dance

Yesterday Shelly and I were blessed to watch and attend Sarah’s spring voice recital at Poteet Theater in Oklahoma City, and our entire family attended the third performance of her dance recital in the evening. Wow! It’s amazing to see how much she’s continued to grow and mature. Sarah is absolutely receiving top notch preparation at Poteet for musical theater. She has taken SIX classes this semester in jazz, tap, point, ballet, MTP (musical theater production) and voice. She’s taken all these classes on top of a full load of classes at Classen School of Advanced Studies, where she’s a drama major but continues to take IB (International Baccalaureate) versions of her core classes like English, History, Chemistry, and math. PreCalculus has been a huge challenge this year for several reasons, but it’s shown her to be such a tenacious and hard working student. (We’ve already known this, but it’s confirmed it in big ways.) Sarah is incredible, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her dad. What an amazing young woman she’s growing up to be! She’s finishing up her sophomore year this year, and has grown up so much in many ways, not just in her artistic, musical and creative talents. We are so proud of her. We’re in for some amazing years ahead as she starts her junior year in high school.

Sarah was in several different dance numbers during last night’s recital, since she’s in so many classes, and this really showed off the range of her skills and talents. The combined video of these is almost 9 minutes long. Notice the segment that is strongly influenced by Hawaiian hula! One of her dance instructors goes to Hawaii every year to lead hula workshops. I absolutely love the diversity and high quality of all the dance as well as voice and theater instruction Sarah has been blessed to receive at Poteet.

One of the most touching parts of yesterday’s recitals was a short message shared by Chris Grimes, who has been the director of programs at Poteet this year and Sarah’s voice teacher. She’s leaving Poteet and going to Lyric Theater, and we’re hopeful Sarah will be able to continue studying voice under Chris. Her message to her students was this:

Remember God says YOU ARE ENOUGH. There are so many people and situations in the world of theater and performance which try to tell you you don’t have what it takes. YOU ARE ENOUGH. Right now, on May 7, 2016, at 1:30 pm in the afternoon, YOU ARE ENOUGH. God has made you perfectly, and His truth is that YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Oh how important it is for Sarah and her classmates at Poteet to hear this message! This has been an incredibly stressful and challenging semester for Sarah personally and for us as a family with her schedule and all the demands she’s had… including the demands she places on herself. Thanks to God for Chris Grimes and her spirit-filled leadership of Sarah and her other students! It’s a huge blessing to have Chris living and speaking God’s truth into Sarah’s life at this pivotal time of development and growth.

Praise God for our healthy and loving daughter, who loves God and has such a kind heart. We are so thankful to God for his blessings and we see these manifested so clearly in our daughter, Sarah, who is flowering into womanhood before our very eyes.